Letter to the editor: North Korea should be scared

Monday

Apr 8, 2013 at 11:33 AMApr 8, 2013 at 11:34 AM

I was very surprised to learn that the U.S. has entered a crash program to develop launch sites in Alaska. However, given the strong tendencies of our Congress to waste money, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me all that much.

Carl Hubbell

*Editor’s Note: This opinion is in response to a Lake View titled “North Korea, not just idle threats” by Eric Reeve published in the April 1 Lake Sun.

I read with great interest Mr. Eric Reeve’s piece on the North Korean nuclear threat in the April 1 edition of the Lake Sun. While their population does without adequate food, they have been for several years working to attain a nuclear weapons capability. At the same time, they have been developing a missile to deliver the weapon. Experts vary in their opinions on the range and accuracy of this missile.

I was very surprised to learn that the U.S. has entered a crash program to develop launch sites in Alaska. However, given the strong tendencies of our Congress to waste money, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me all that much.

I would recommend they contact the Department of the Navy. Our Navy has 24 nuclear-powered Trident Submarines. These subs can deploy for as much as 60 days at a time and never resurface. Each one is equipped with 24 ICBM’s, every one equipped with eight warheads that can be independently targeted. That means that one missile launch can take out eight different cities or military installations at the same time. The missiles have a range of 4,000 miles and an accuracy of within 800 feet of their target. There is an unknown number of them (classified) deployed at any given time and can respond to a launch order very quickly.

I would think that this would be more than enough to reduce North Korea to a smoldering mass of rubble that glows in the dark.

That might give their “Supreme Leader” pause for concern.

A side benefit would be that work in Alaska on the new launch sites could be discontinued and Congress could waste the money somewhere else. I would think this would not disappoint them too much.

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